OurCreative Vision

Art that enchants, invigorates, and awakens the imagination has always been born of the rule breakers, and no one is breaking the rules more joyously, more fervently than Kansas City’s Quixotic. A melting pot of dance, aerial acrobatics, projection mapping, high fashion, and original live music, Quixotic is a cornucopia of mystical majesty that enraptures audiences who have never even dreamed a night at the theater could be this much fun. Sleek dancers pushing the boundaries of athletic artistry soar across neon skies that encompass and envelop traditional and non-traditional venues, bathing structures and even painting new nature on old in a vivid fantasy world. Evocative tribal electronica sets the stage for the visual panoply of color and agility in flight. Even the aural accompaniment blurs the lines between stylistic worlds, blending organic instrumentations of lush strings and primal drums with digital symphonies of programmed beats and bellowing subsonic frequencies.

Founded in 2005 by renowned graphic designer, percussionist, and artistic director Anthony Magliano and joined a year later by award-winning lighting and theater technology guru Mica Thomas, Quixotic’s mission statement was to tear down the walls that cloistered each discipline of the arts, unleashing a flood of new ideas that would wash away the staid norms of traditional theatre performance. It is the joint vision of Magliano and Thomas that has taken the loose collective of avant garde trendsetters and molded them into what the New York Times branded an “innovative circus [company].” This ultra-modern, multi-sensory experience shatters antiquated notions of “a night at the ballet.”

The stunning and surreal environments that set the scene for this experimental movement troupe has aligned its performers with the most progressive acts in the burgeoning electronic music scene (Dave Tipper and Shpongle, among others), but its undeniable grace, transcendent athleticism, and dogmatic dedication to haute couture also allows Quixotic to flawlessly complement the Kansas City Symphony.

The raw power, immersive experience, and sheer mesmerizing artistry of Quixotic Fusion cannot be conveyed through words, nor can audio or video alone capture the magic of an intense, firsthand glimpse of the collective in action. To truly get a sense of what it is to leave the earthly realm and enter a digital landscape of breathtaking wonder, where the bounds of genre—and gravity—have no meaning; you have to be there to believe.

TheCore Team

Quixotic has a core team of contributors whose members work together to maintain and provide support from creation to execution of Quixotic’s performances. Individuals are invited to join the core team based on their time and efforts contributed to Quixotic as a whole, as well as their sustained efforts in improving the overall quality of Quixotic. The core team is essential to the day-to-day vision and creation led by Founder / Artistic Director Anthony Magliano and Associate Artistic Director Mica Thomas.

Quixotic's core musical composition team is led by Anthony Magliano and Shane Borth.

ArtisticLeadership

Anthony Magliano

Founder / Artistic Director

Visceral, eclectic and beautiful are not just words that describe Quixotic’s body of work, but words that have consistently followed founder and co-artistic director Anthony Magliano throughout his career. Drawing from his roots as a percussionist and composer to his internationally-acclaimed career as a graphic and motion designer, Anthony leads the vision of Quixotic and it’s ensemble of performers and technicians to create original, passionate and unpredictable works of theatre. This passion and commitment insures that Quixotic will continue to evolve, take chances, and challenge our emotional boundaries.

“I grew up a musician and learned early on its power to connect with people. As I grew older, I extended my artistic reach into the visual arts and discovered the power of storytelling. As I’ve settled into this community of artists, I have again found myself energized and challenged in ways I could never have expected. In truth, I want Quixotic audiences to feel the same thing I feel every single day. I want them to be challenged, to feel a little unsettled, to feel like it’s a little bit dangerous, to be excited by the shear beauty & physicality and be moved by what they hear. To feel this every day of my life, I am truly grateful. To be given a chance to translate these feelings into performances with this amazing ensemble of performers, I am truly thankful.”

Mica Thomas

Associate Artistic Director

It’s a rare gift to be able to turn the conceptual into the real; to take lights and wood and steel and velvet and make them as beautiful, exciting and integral as the performers themselves. But this is what co-artistic director Mica Thomas does at Quixotic every day. While this may be Mica’s third, award-winning season with the ensemble, it’s not the first time he’s received the accolades of his peers and community. From his undergraduate days at Oregon State, where he received a BFA in Theatre, to his graduate studies in Lighting Design at Penn State, where he was awarded the prestigious Creative Achievement Award, Mica has been recognized time and time again for his creativity and unique ability to bring a production to life. And, while Mica will be the first to admit that his cumulative experiences have led him to Quixotic, it’s at Quixotic where he’s been challenged, rewarded and found a home. Our ensemble, as well as audiences around the world, are better off as a result.